LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



"Old John Brown, of Harper's Ferry 



a H>raina in five acts 



Bv W. T. PRICE 





JOHN BROWN. 



\ 






CHARACTERS. 

John Brown, The Liberator. 

Malviney, House Servant {The '\Mai/uin\") wife of Old Abe. 

Elizabeth, Daughter of Mr. Washburn, the Slave-oi^'uer. 

'Rastus, Boy, Sou of Malviuey and Abe. 

Abe, Xegro head of the Field-hauds ; of the same age with his ///aster, 

his playmate i// boyhood. 
Mr. Clarke, Overseer. 
MosE, A rheumatie Xegro. 
Charles, /In ''0-wdaeious" ii//ilatto, a //taster of seven-zip, jig-da//eing and 

pigeon-ivi//gs. 
Dick, A Slave, his adi/i/rer. 
Gideon, A Gia//t of Despair, a Slave. 
PoMPEV, A //la/i of la/ighter a//d jollity, a Slave. 



Owen Brown, j ^^^^^^ ^j. ^^,^^^ ^,^^,^,^^_ 
Oliver Brown, ) 



The Negro Preacher. 

The Fiddler. 

The Runaway Slave. 

The Negro Gently Reproved, " There is hut one Master!" A//d vario/is 

types at the Midnight Gathering in the ivoods. 
Sentinel. 

Officers and Soldiers in the Fight at the Ferry. 
Gabe Jones, ( -j-^,^-.^^i Clti,e,/s. 

Squire Perkins, ) 
Citizens at the Trial. 
Sheriff. 

Prosecuting Attorney. 
Attorney for John Brown. 
Judge. 

Governor Wise. 
Captain Avis, The Jailer. 
Kagi. 

John Brown's Wife. 
Followers of John Brown, 
Military in Uniforms of the Period, Fife Player, Dru//i Major, eharaeters 

typieal of the day, etc. 

Copyrighted, 1895. by W. T. Price. 



SYNOPSIS OF THE SCENES. 

Prdiiih- : Room at John Browii s home, at North P.lha — His Dream and 
Msioii — Parting with J Fife ami Chihi — His Mission — TItc loholc l>eing a li'oin" 
picture witliont words. 

ACT I. 

SciiNE I. — Interior of Mr. Washburn's liouse, near Charleston, \'a.; KUzalieth and the negro 
"Mammy" sewing for the Fall outfit; their talk; Mr. Washburn's return; 'Ra.stus and his redtop 
boots; Alie's report of the day's work ; the bluster of the white overseer; his complaints; dift'erence as 
to treatment ; the bag of silver. 

SCKNE 2. — In the woods; negroes returning from work; Charles' dance ; the rheumatic negro; 
(lideon and his gi-im silence; the tnant's resentment of his chains, unspoken; John Brown's wonder on 
coming on and accosting him at this sullen, unresponsive apparition ; his ei|ual wonder at the jollity of 
Pompey, who directs him to the cabin of " the most influential negro." 

.Slenk 3. — Interior of .Vbe's cabin; the great fireplace and backlog; the pone of cornbread, the 
middling, the oven and skillet ; 'Rastus teaches his mother spelling from the ISible ; " O, Mammy, you'll 
never learn nothin'! " Abe's return; the dance in the neighboring cabin ; " Come in ! Negio got no 
locks on his do'; got nothin' to steal ! " " My name is John Brown ; " John Brown's talk ; Abe's reluc- 
tance to entertain the idea of freedom by any other means than the Lord's will ; " The Lord will do it in 
I lis own time ;" ' Mammy, what is freedom ? what do liberty mean ? " The overseer disperses the dancers 
in other cabin ; approaches Abe's cabin ; retirement of John Brown, invited to call again ; violence of 
the overseer ; strikes with his whip the first blow that Abe has ever received ; Abe about to kill him 
with the sharp knife with which he is eating, but is restrained by his wife, who reminds him of the law 
and the jailer with thirty lashes; "Daddy! Daddy!" "Abe! doan' take it so hartl ! " 



Wood scene, with view of the valley and mountains of X'irginia, a wheatlield nearby, Mr. Wash- 
burn's house and the cabins in the distance; also the old house and the graveyard ; Abe awaits his 
master ; his appeal for the liberty that his master promised him when they were boys together ; the 
general question discussed between them ; the master's refusal to turn him adrift in his old age ; alone, 
Abe utters a prayer ; the overseer renews his quarrel ; they struggle ; the overseer's pistol ; Abe bares 
his breast ; "Shoot! shoot! poor wretch that I am ! " the pistol brushed aside by John Brown; retire- 
ment of the overseer ; " I do not know whether to thank you or not ; " "I hold out to you something 
more than hope : freedom ! " " meet me to-night at the gathering in the woods and remember the watch- 
word, God rules ! " 

ACT III. 

Deep woods on the mountain side ; hoots of the owl and C17 of the whippoorwill heard; moon 
begins to rise and dispel the darkness ; ground covered with fallen leaves ; a wormfence back ; an over- 
turned tree ; a great rock ; set trees ; pines and cedars ; a hillock in the centre ; John Brown and his 
sons with pikes ; the assemblage of many negroes, a number of them of distinct types ; the preacher, the 
rtinaway negro with a cornknife, etc.; the passing of the patrol ; Abe, Gideon, Charles, and negroes of 
various types of intelligence and ignorance and appearance; the distribution of pikes, to Gideon a pistol; 
John Brown's talk ; interjections of religious character ; Gideon's inteiTuption to declare his purpose to 
spare not; (|uieted by John Brown; one negro, slipping to the feet of John Brow^n, chatters the word 
" Master ! " " There is but one Master! " The song in chorus of the dispersing negroes of " Blow ye 
trumpets, etc., the day of jubilee is come! " Gideon and Charles left alone, Gideon tells his wrongs; 



>els lire to iiol lai ai=Uint house; John Brown's discover)- and cliange of plans; Elizabeth, accompanied 
by 'Rastus, on her way to the fire, is waylaid by Gideon; Abe responds to her cry; in the struggle 
Gideon shooLs and kills Abe; "I forgive you. Master; I got my liberty sooner than I expected!" 
" Daddy ! Daddy '. " " Kather, he died for me '. •' " Would to God, I could repay him, my child '. " 

A.CT IV. 

The attack on Harper's Ferr)-; ludicrous capture of the Majah and the Squire; the death of the 
overseer; death of Kagi in the stream; btittering down the dw^r of the engine house; the death of John 
brown's two sons ; " he is too brave a man to die '. " 

ACT V, 

Scene i.— The tri.al; talk of old citizens; the Majah and St|uire have a word to say; John 
Brown's simple plea; rejects plea of insanity; citizen's remark that all twenty men could not have been 
insane ; John Brown's wise and pathetic words. 

Scene 2.— In jail; the visit from Elizabeth; the old song; his farewell letter home; me.ss.iges 
sent; refuses chance of escape; blessing Elizabeth and her lover; visit from bis wife; the vision again, 
the slave unshackled ; the love of the jailer for him ; re.a<ly to die ; satisfied with fate and the result of 
his attempt. 

Scene 3.— Before the jail door; troops; citizens making a holiday ; types of countrymen ; repro- 
duction of Hovenden's picture ; John Brown's bles.sing on 'Rastus and message to those that .are to 
come; the assurance of liberty; " Beautiful mountains I Beautiful day ! God! I thank thee for the 
omen ! Lead on ! " the wailing anthem of Malviney, Martha and Rastus, with great accompaniment by 
orchestra; the anthem ri.sing higher and higher, the ertecl to lie as strong a fcatiue as i^ssible; the 
drumbeat signals the death; the d.arkened stage; the thunder roll and the Iwlt of lightning revealing a 
stage entirely black ; bghls ciuickly on. 

Charleston Jail. Va.. Deceiiibei- 1st. IS.V.t. 

THIS is a play of truth, peace and reconciliation. 
In ever)' atom it is an American play. 
There are but two phazes of negro life that admit of great dramatic treat- 
ment, the phaze found in " Uncle Tom's Cabin" and its imitations, and that 
in the John Brown incident, at the darkest period of slavery, at the moment 
preceding the destruction of the system. 

For what did a million or more of men give up their lives? Why did 
they march to battle with the song of John Brown on their lips? Why was 
a debt of billions incurred? Why the vast and yet unended outlay in pen- 



sions? At bottom it was to destroy slavery. The younger generation may 
have a pardonable curiosity to see exactly what that slaverj- was, and in this 
play it is represented just as it was in its gracious as well as in its sterner 
aspects, — the reproduction of the literal truth. Every incident of negro life is 
touched on. It is perfect in its minuteness and realism; the negro's ignor- 
ance, superstitions, religion, fidelity, affection, servility, and yet dormant 
powers of self assertion, subdued by hope — his love of laughter, dancing, 
singing, the system of names, system of marriages, what he ate, how he 
dressed, how he plaited his hair, his dialect — in short, the negro as he was, 
and as he exists no more I 

It is a drama — not a political play. 

The play is written by a Southern-born man, an ex-Confederate soldier, 
a Kentuckian, from the State that sent the hemp with which John Brown 
was hanged! Written with a full knowledge of the slave, the master and 
John Brown, and in perfect sympathy with them all ! 

It is a play as well adapted to popularity in the South as in the North, 
and with as much vitality as " Uncle Tom's Cabin." It is truer to nature 
than " The Octoroon " and "The White Slave," — the three plays indicated 
having been the most profitable ever written, and treating of the same sub- 
ject ; only this is the first play that has put the negro on the stage in a serious 
character in numbers, as a race, unrelieved by mere romanticism. It is a 
novelty of a sensational character. 

Old Abe is a greater character than Uncle Tom : He sacrifices his life for 
his mistress. 

Little 'Rastus is a more natural and touching character than Topsy. 

It abounds in humor without conventionaHty ; the dances, the songs. — 
everything is genuine. 

It is a people's play — a real play, without artifice; a realistic play, more 
so than " The Old Homestead " and the like, because it involves more char- 
acters and more important events, more substance. It is a kind of play to 
interest the entire theatre-going public and to evoke the attendance of those 
unaccustomed to the stage. 

The pikes and many of the articles used are the original ones used by 
John Brown. 



John Brf>\vn is a perfect trajjic figfure; nothint^ invented by any dramatist 
excels this type in accordance with every dramatic law, — a tragic figure that 
lived, acted and died. A great play is made by a great subject alone; great 
under the simplest treatment. John Brown has lived in the novel, in paint- 
ings, poems, orations, busts, etc.. and should be a living figure on the stage. 

It is not merely John Brown — for the matter in hand was larger than 
John Brown in a merely human sense; while the variety and picturesqueness 
of the characters make it a great historical picture involving man}' lives, 
emotions and figures. 

The scenes of the play are picturesque beyond the ordinary — the vallej- 
of Virginia, Harper's Ferry by moonlight, the conspiracy in the deep woods 
by moonlight, etc. 

The souvenir book tliat will accompany 'M)!!] John Brown," is of extra- 
ordinary interest, containing poems by \^ictor Hugo, Whittier, the words of 
Wendell Phillips, Thoreau, Henry Ward Beecher, Emerson, Horace (ireely, 
(iaribaldi, etc., a storehouse of s\'mpathy and literature worth the reading of 
any true heart. 

The scenes and cliarat-ters depicted by i^encil and in the pictorial display in 
an advertising way, will show at a glance that the play is full of luiman 
interest and not a mere revival of a past political discussion. Each character 
will thus apjiear. Selected for illustration will be John Brown's picture, the 
exterior and interior of the planter's home and also of the cabin ; the Bible read- 
ingscene; ''Abe! Abe I doan' take it so hard ! " the appeal for freedom ; ".Shoot, 
poor wretch that I am!" Charles and his coon dog; the runaway negro; the 
preacher; the jolly negro; the burning houses; the attack on the Fort; a 
fac-simile f>f John Brown's letter; Hovenden's picture; the meeting in the 
woods; Abe's death, etc., a richness of material thai will afford ample strik- 
ing advertising features to attract attention. It is a tlicnie lliat will engage 
the universal attention of newspapers, and excite discussion that must result 
favorably. 

The design here has been merely to give an outline of the action of the 
play ; there is infinite detail in it that is not touched on in this paper. 

This is an epoch-making play, and such plays are always profitable to a 
degree not known to the ordinary play, — hundreds of thousands of dollars. 



Thf play will bring a benediction to everybody connected with it, money 
and reputation and honor. 

The question of slavery has been settled torever, and there can be no 
possible friction on that point. The negro as he Mrs is nut an unpleasant 
nienidry tu the Southern people. 

John Brown was hanged 36 years ago! The war is over! John Brown's 
heroic deed n:ade for the peace that we have; without him we would be to-day 
in a state of unrest. The lesson of magnanimity, without shame to any part 
of our country, is involved in the sure success of " Old John Brown." 

Jului I'.riiwn of ( Issavvatomie, they led liiiii oul to die ; 

And lo ! a poor slave mother with her little child press'd nigh. 

Then the bold blue eye grew tender, and the old harsh faee grew mild, 

As he stooped between the jeering ranks and kiss'd the negro's child. 

The shadows of his stormy life that moment fell apart ; 

And they who blamed the bloody hand forgave the loving heart. 

That kiss from its guilty means redeemed the good intent, 

.\nd round the gi'isly ligliter's hair the martyr's aureole bent ! 

~ll7n'U/,r. 

"The North is as much responsible for the existence of slavery as the 
South." — Abraham Lincoln at Confer cncc at Hampton Road. 



'•The Story of John Brown is one of the possessions of which mankind 
will never grow tired." — Harper's Weekly. 



"We do not envy him who can read the story of that execution without 
tears." — Xeio York Tribune, Deccuiber 11, iSSo. 



(iov. Wise said : "John Brown was a great man, sir ; he was a great 
man. Yes," he added, "John Brown was a hero ; John Brown was a hero, 
sir!" — Newspaper letter from Richmond, October ^, 1SS4. 



Juhu liiown tiled that the slave might be free ; 
John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, 
But his soul is marching on. 




HOVENDEN S PAINTING OF WHITTIER'S POEM. 



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